Location: Dominica
Hi there!
Sam here. Or is it Meg? Turns out, nobody can tell. As I walked into the galley to get some boiled water for my delicious morning cup of coffee, I was promptly asked by the chefs to get some bread out of the fridge for french toast. While fine with the request, I was a bit confused, as I was not actually a chef. Then, a different chef said, “Meg, can you do this (I don’t remember what it was).” He looked straight at me and then realized that it was actually I, Sam, not Meg standing before him. A split second later, the real Meg sauntered in, and to my delight, we were both wearing grey t-shirts that looked surprisingly similar. This is not the first time we’ve been confused for each other, and I daresay it won’t be the last.
So keeping with the theme, I borrowed Meg’s phone and played Meg’s music to wake everyone up – we went with a nice “Funkin’ For Jamaica,” which naturally then seaweed into the Ultimate Pitch Perfect Soundtrack. I’d say the morning was off to a perfect start.
Our first-class of the day was Oceanography – everyone’s favorite: D. Maybe not, but I teach it, so that is what we are going to go with. We had a very lovely and well-planned presentation about eutrophication from Addisen – and if you don’t know what that is, it’s the increase of nutrients in the ocean caused by agricultural and waste runoff that can lead to dead zones (where everything dies). Then, we had a brief intermission where we put the immense scale of the ocean into terms we can actually understand: The average depth of the ocean is approximately 3,960 m, OR 13 Eiffel Towers stacked on top of each other; The Marianas Trench (the deepest part of the ocean) is deeper than 7 miles = around the height airplanes fly (not impressive), OR over 120 football fields deep; The estimated volume of seawater in all the world’s oceans is 1.223 cubic kilometers, OR 352 quintillion gallons (if you’re thinking of how many gallons of milk that is, and how long that would take to drink – a very long time. What even is a quintillion?)
Next, we watched more beloved Rescue Videos (well, they watched, I read my book, as I’ve already taken the Rescue Diver Course). If you’ve never watched a movie by PADI – I would highly suggest it. The artistry and acting skills are truly unmatched.
The rest of the day was basically spent relaxing. Reading and hanging out on the deck, jump in showers, napping, etc. Though the morning started very rainy and cloudy, by the evening, we had a lovely rainbow (however small it may be). We finished the day with a delicious veggie bake and chicken – we are LOVING the veggies, so much so that the fridge is overflowing with them. Literally, I had to store the bread under the companionway because it didn’t fit in the fridge. And yes, we do refrigerate our bread because it’s usually 1,000 degrees, and all food goes off instantly if left to its own devices (i.e., not refrigerated).
Now, I’m going to go watch The Martian. Actually, I believe they started without me, but that’s ok because the movie really only gets good once he’s abandoned* spoiler*.
Thanks for stopping by,
Sam
Photo Captions:
Photo 1: Henry being cool
Photo 2: Relaxing deck time
Photo 3: Cloudy Dominica (no chance of meatballs, though)
Photo 4: Celia working out and thinking it’s highly entertaining
Photo 5: Happy shipmates with a rainbow in the background (it’s small)
Photo 6: Meg and Me – or the Shining Girls. Who’s who?
Photo 7: Meg and Me part two – people still can’t seem to tell us apart, even when looking straight at us